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Shameful Scandal
The Manipur University is back in the spotlight, unfortunately again for all the wrong reasons. With due respect to the inquiry the university authorities have instituted to into its latest scandal, we would refrain from speculating or making assumptions too much. However, the Manipur University being one of the most important public institutions in the state, we cannot help being nosy about its affairs.
This, because we are of the firm opinion that all public institutions and apex bodies of the civil society, statutory or otherwise, must be made answerable to precisely the civil society. After all, these institutions should in the real sense of the word be literally 'for' and 'of' the civil society, if not 'by' the civil society as well.
In this way, there can be no doubt whatsoever that on the welfare of the Manipur University hinges a great deal of the well-being of each member of the civil society in the state. The civil society must not forget this or cease to expect these institutions to deliver the goods that they are meant to deliver. It must also never cease to believe in the disciplining effect of its glare on these institutions. The weight of the responsibility of running public institutions must constantly be reminded to those at their helms.
It is therefore of extreme importance that the public does not ever either grow distant or become indifferent to any of these public institutions. One must remember that maintaining a healthy, debating distance with them, actually amounts to minding one's own business. Without being meddlesome in their functioning, it is needed of the civil society to be critical of their affairs whenever or whereever they have, or are likely to go wrong. Indeed, in many ways, the Manipur University is as much the business of the ordinary men and women in the street as that of the administrative officers and professors who are its virtual engines.
The scandal that led to the current high-level probe in Manipur University is not something to be trifled. If proven true, it has the potential of discrediting the entire examination and evaluation mechanism of the university that must have by now churned out lakhs and lakhs of degree holders of higher learning. From the sketchy picture that has emerged so far, an application for admission to a computer course under the university was rejected by the computer
department on the ground that the applicant did not have the requisite marks in
the qualifying degree certificate for the course.
Most audaciously, the applicant returned with another certificate of the same examination, conducted by the university, showing the requisite marks. The discovery of the fraud, most
particularly by the university's Students Union, led the scandal to become public. And now a probe has been instituted by the university to have the whole truth out.
For the sake of the health of the only university in the state, which we all hold with such esteem and pride, we wish the probe a success and hope that it is able to unearth the entire filth, obvious to all by now, so that such shameful episodes never recur. Two things are also evident. One is the weakness of those on the top echelon of the university affairs. And more disturbing that this is the knowledge that petty and unscrupulous men have infiltrated the
university's hub.
(Courtesy: The Imphal Free Press) |
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